Cooking With Steve
| creator= Antonios Brackston | starring= | theme_music_composer= Another Name | opentheme= "A Title" performed by Remzija | composer= Remzija | country= United States | language= English | num_seasons= 1 | num_episodes= 14 | list_episodes= #Episodes | executive_producer= | producer= Baird Redwash | editor= Baird Redwash | cinematography= Antha O'Rebecca | camera= Single-camera | runtime= 44 minutes | network= Silver Swan | picture_format= | audio_format= 5.1 Surround Sound | first_aired= | last_aired= | followed_by= | company= | distributor= LM Industries Television }} Cooking With Steve is an American Comedy Cooking television series created by writer and director Antonios Brackston, under his LM Industries Productions label. Brackston served as an executive producer, along with Baird Redwash. The series is set in the year 2017, and centers on the various recipes created by the eponymous character, Steve. Unusually for a cooking show, Steve is not a particularly excellent cook or actor, and often finds himself in bizarre situations during the show. Throughout the season, Steve attempts to cook a variety of meals from different cultures, usually with varying success. The show breaks conventions by allowing Steve to directly address the cameraman and crew, as well as the audience, on topics not necessarily related to cooking. Steve's most dangerous actions are mitigated by the presence of Gabe, a young man living in the house whom Steve believes to be his son. Gabe rarely speaks except to better understand the circumstances he is needed to avert. Cooking With Steve premiered in the U.S. on the Silver Swan network on September 20, 2002. By mid-December, Cooking With Steve had averaged 4.7 million viewers per episode and was 98th in Psych ratings. It was canceled after eleven of the fourteen produced episodes were aired. The immediate outburst from fans led to the creation of a feature-length film, The Legend of Steve's Team, which began the creation of a cinematic universe widely referred to as the VCU (Viola Cinematic Universe). Unusually for such a popular show, few DVDs were ever released, and it remains difficult to find an edition of the original 14 episodes. Premise Backstory As is later discussed in other parts of the VCU, the world Steve is living and cooking in is actually embroiled in a vast political conspiracy. There is also an ancient prophecy referring to the idea of a "Great Destroyer", a role which Steve appears to have unexpectedly filled. The presence of Gabe, secretly a millennia-old vampire sent to stop the Great Destroyer, is thus explained. Synopsis The show takes its name from the main character, Steve. He proceeds to cook a variety of recipes, of which only a few are successful. Throughout each episode he distractedly converses with the audience and film crew, frequently performing a cooking faux pas due to his distraction. Some examples include storing fresh milk in an oven rather than the refrigerator, using non-heatproof plastic spatulas on hot pans, putting tinfoil in the microwave, and turning on a teakettle with no water in it. Every five to ten minutes Gabe appears in the kitchen to avert whichever impending disaster is present in the room. At times he appears with a hose or fire extinguisher. Despite the series being considered a cooking show, Steve is rarely successful in making something edible. His meals usually end up scorched, smoking, full of carcinogens and melted silicon, and sometimes inexplicably uncooked. Furthermore, though the stated runtime of the show is 44 minutes, it frequently ends early or has extended pauses due to damage the kitchen has undergone. At times Steve or one of the crew members has to be taken to the hospital midshow. As a result, the kitchen and shooting space slowly deteriorates as the season continues, until by the end of the thirteenth episode the kitchen has, in fact, burned down. The final episode is shot in the burnt husk of the kitchen, which somehow yet manages to function and possess access to electricity and heat. Steve professes to be a former professional musician, and frequently sings operatically during the show. This rumor has not been substantiated by any source within the VCU. He also believes Gabe to be his son, raising questions about his marital life (and sanity), but that is later disproved by The Prophecy of Steven. At times, Steve has guest hosts. These hosts are usually young chefs or actors who have little to no idea why they are involved with the show and rarely finish the episode without some form of bodily harm, though it is usually less severe than that which Steve and the crew undergoes. The show is sponsored by several companies, including CelloThongTM and Cooking With Floyd. Signature show elements The show blends elements from a wide variety of genres, making referential use of comedy, cooking shows, and reality television. The unique concept of a cooking show where the main character is thoroughly unable to cook, or even to function in human society, has never fully been explained, but it gives Cooking With Steve an entirely unique niche in popular culture. It is also fairly unique in the category of non-competitive cooking shows for making use of cutaway interviews, a technique that was carried over to The Legend of Steve's Team. This, combined with the ambiguity surrounding time and location, lead to a show with a strange timeline that blurs the line between reality and fiction. The show features a variety of expressions and slang, such as "snarkphone", that are not used in common parlance or contemporary culture. Though some phrases have been extended to the rest of the VCU, it is unclear whether or not they are an accepted part of the canon culture or simply a result of Steve's inconsistencies. It also makes use of a strange kind of direct address in which Steve has one-sided dialogues with the ever-silent Cameraman and crew. This is particularly remarkable because, no matter what disaster is currently occurring, the Cameraman never actually speaks to alert Steve to the danger. Though they are not present in the original series, later additions to the VCU also incorporate elements of adventure, science fiction, horror, fantasy, disaster, action, and magical realism, some of which can be retroactively applied to certain elements of Cooking With Steve. Critics have argued strenuously about whether or not these elements were, in fact, hinted at during Cooking With Steve, but the original creators (who remain unknown) have not put forth an answer. The director once pointed out a scene that articulated the strange, "too-true-to-be-real" vibe of the show exceptionally well. He references a moment in the pilot where Gabe enters the room while Steve is giving incomprehensible life advice to the Cameraman. He proceeds to turn a fire extinguisher on the stove, where the steak Steve was sautéing has burst into flames, and then leave. When Steve finishes his life advice, he returns to cooking the extinguished steak without appearing to notice what has happened. Cast Main characters Cooking With Steve had a very small cast, consisting only of the visible Steve and Gabe and the invisible, or potentially nonexistent, Cameraman. There is no ensemble, aside from the occasional crewmembers or EMTs called to the scene when a real-life danger has occurred. Several times during the season he had guest hosts, but they were not recurring characters, nor are they referenced in future episodes. Both Steve and Gabe are present in every episode, with Steve present on-screen for most of the run-time (except when he forgets that he is cooking and on-air). Gabe appears more sparsely, entering somewhere between four and ten times per episode to salvage the situation. Guest hosts are usually visible for the entire show, even when Steve leaves, until they are endangered or scared off. * Steve No-Last-Name as Steve – the main character of the show and a semi-professional chef or musician, depending on the day and what he claims. He seems to be completely unable to cook or function in normal society. He spends much of his time arguing with the invisible Cameraman and offering thoroughly incomprehensible life advice to all and sundry. He believes Gabe to be his son. He appears to possess either incredible luck or bizarre supernatural abilities, as he remains completely unharmed despite repeatedly causing explosions and consuming carcinogenic or poisonous substances he has unintentionally cooked into his meals. * Gabriel the Ancient as Gabe – a millennia-old vampire (though this is never mentioned or explained in the show) who was sent to keep the Great Destroyer from ending the world. In the show, he is only known as Steve's son, though one of the few times he speaks he disavows this fact. He is generally silent and appears to have an uncanny knack for knowing when something is going to go terribly wrong. He appears in the kitchen with whatever equipment he needs to avert the oncoming crisis. On several occasions, Steve has opened the wrong cabinet to find Gabe curled up inside, shaking his head at him. Gabe has also appeared outside the kitchen window, and at times leaned in with a hose to put out a fire. * The Cameraman as The Cameraman – a character who is controversial due to some ambiguity about his actual existence. Steve frequently addresses him, but due to the fact that the camera does not, in fact, move, and that the Cameraman never actually replies to or acknowledges Steve or Gabe, might suggest that he is not actually real. * Becca B. as Becca – one of Steve's three guest hosts, apparently a child spelling bee prodigy who cannot understand where she is or what she is doing there. She does not seem to understand Steve and, as a kind of defense mechanism, begins listing a series of words that begin with B about ten minutes into the episode, though she runs out a few minutes later and begins reading off a list on her phone. Later on in that episode she flees the kitchen pursued by a wave of boiling oil. * Emily L. as Emily – a fairly young refrigerator technician who was sent to the house to repair Steve's semi-functional kitchen appliances. She quickly pronounces them broken, yet somehow perfectly fine, and in the process is swept into guest hosting. She and Steve jointly get somewhat electrocuted, though they are rushed to the hospital and Emily later returns in The Legend of Steve's Team. The electrocution also gives her a genius-level IQ when it comes to technology, which is revealed in The Legend of Steve's Team. Recurring characters Despite the series' short run, at least one recurring character emerged from the inhabitants of the Cooking With Steve universe: * Some Dude as The EMT – a local EMT who unintentionally finds himself on the show repeatedly, as he is usually the first responder in an emergency. Episodes | ProdCode = 1AGE79 | ShortSummary = Steve attempts to create a gourmet steak, in the process introducing himself to the audience and crew. He accidentally sets it on fire, thus showing Gabe for the first time as he extinguishes it. Steve doesn't actually introduce Gabe until later in the episode, when he comes in to unplug the electronic kettle. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE01 | ShortSummary = Steve tries his hand at pasta, though he accidentally loses a spatula in the sauce and discovers halfway through that he has been confusing turmeric with basil. Gabe speaks for the first time, when he asks Steve where the milk is (Steve responds "in the oven", and Gabe returns it to the fridge). | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE02 | ShortSummary = Steve and his first guest host, Becca, attempt to fry potatoes. Becca seems to be unaware of what circumstances led to her being on the show, and after being repeatedly scared by Steve's antics with the boiling oil she starts reciting a list of words beginning with the letter "B". Steve continues interacting with her despite her vaguely catatonic state, until eventually he startles her out of her reverie by accidentally catapulting the boiling oil from the makeshift fry-o-later across the room. Gabe saves her and she flees the scene. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE03 | ShortSummary = Steve elects to make stir fry, but treats it more as a salad, failing to remember that it is very hot. As a result, he is badly burned and finishes the episode with Gabe binding his hands. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE04 | ShortSummary = Steve tries and fails to make every conceivable form of eggs. He accidentally crushes more than a few before actually managing to get them in the pan. Each time he declares what kind of egg he is making now, he manages to create some other kind instead, which he promptly throws out for being wrong. This show is notable for being one of the few times Steve acknowledges his lack of skill, though ironically it also represents some of his best cooking. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE05 | ShortSummary = Steve turns his hand to baking, in the process nearly giving himself salmonella and charcoal poisoning. Gabe repeatedly appears in the window to hose down the latest tray of smoking mess, suggesting that he is actually taking care of the garden. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE06 | ShortSummary = Steve has "upgraded" from an electrical stove to a gas one, but forgets to turn off the valve as he makes a casserole. Gabe repeatedly tries to turn it off, but Steve keeps absent-mindedly turning it back on until it breaks off, nearly asphyxiating him. This marks the first time that the local EMT is seen on-camera. Gabe later repairs the valve. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE07 | ShortSummary = Steve attempts to make a pie that he can throw at Gabe. Gabe manages to dodge all of them, but the collateral damage (as the pies appear to be rock-hard) is significant. Steve strikes himself in the face with the final pie so it doesn't go to waste, unintentionally knocking himself out. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE08 | ShortSummary = Emily, a young and fairly competent refrigerator repair technician, comes to the house to fix Steve's appliances. She soon pronounces them all useless and broken, but finds that they somehow still work perfectly well. Steve begins to make soup, roping Emily into guest hosting, but accidentally touches a still-exposed pair of wires together and non-lethally electrocutes both of them. Gabe appears, revealing that he was hoping Emily would keep Steve safe so he could have a day off (the most words he ever speaks), and calls 911. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE09 | ShortSummary = When lighting candles for ambience, Steve accidentally lights a corner of his greasy apron on fire. Throughout the episode and his attempts to make roasted chicken, the fire slowly spreads, until as he is sitting down with his charred chicken Gabe is forced to turn the fire extinguisher on Steve himself. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE12 | ShortSummary = Steve arrives in the kitchen with a huge box of ice cream sandwiches and attempts to feed them to all of the crewmembers, as well as Gabe. The episode is structured like a PSA on the health benefits of "Sugar Boosts", which Steve professes can be attained by eating large amounts of ice cream. The only person who gets hyper, however, is Steve himself. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE13 | ShortSummary = Gabe finds himself unable to leave the kitchen due to both doors locking simultaneously, and as a result is the guest host. He spends most of the episode trying to turn off everything Steve turns on and counteract everything Steve tries to do, so by the end they have made no really progress on cooking and are instead released when Steve accidentally creates a salad dressing so acidic as to be able to eat through the lock on the door. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE10 | ShortSummary = Steve tries to create a series of "authentic" French desserts, culminating in a crème brûlée. However, he has left the gas stove on without a flame for most of the episode and accidentally blows up the kitchen when he turns on the acetylene torch. | LineColor = ffcc99 }} | ProdCode = 1AGE11 | ShortSummary = While working in the scorched ruin of his kitchen, Steve decides to create a classic beef stew. He is nearly successful, though he almost stabs both himself and Gabe multiple times in the process. Ultimately he is dissuaded by the discovery of a treasure map inside an onion, though we are not informed of the fact (the audience only sees him cut into an onion and begin staring into it, tears in his eyes). | LineColor = ffcc99 }} }}